Millennium Asylum
by candyazngirl
Summary: Bakura got caught stealing from Kaiba and now Ryou has to suffer the consequences. He is declared to be insane and is force to stay at the Millennium Asylum, where he meets people such as Marik and Yugi who are dealing with their own problems. While he is there, he is bothered by nightmares of memories that he has been suppressing. AU. Tendershipping, Puzzleshipping, Bronzeshipping
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: This is my new long term fanfic! I hope you enjoy. I do not own anything. This fanfic will be updated weekly on Saturdays when I get my internet back. No, that does not mean that I will be updating this Saturday.**

**I wrote this on my birthday so give me a break, okay?**

* * *

Chapter 01 – Admission to Millennium Asylum

"I demand that this man is put into jail right away!" A tall man with a white, fancy trench coat said as he slammed his hands onto the desk. He glared right at his lawyer that was on the other side of the desk.

"Kaiba, this man is a boy," the lawyer said as he examine the documents that the other had thrown into disarray by his anger. "He's a minor. It's not possible to punish him to the extent that you want him to be."

"I don't care," Kaiba said with his arms crossed. "This boy stole from me! Seto Kaiba!"

"Yes, well, I know who you are sir. You hired me."

"Are you talking smart with me?" the CEO asked as he looked at the other with a raised eyebrow. He leaned close to the other. The lawyer would have said that Kaiba was insane, but he wanted to keep his job. There was only so much he could say to the other without having the CEO demand that he was shipped out of the country or something absurd like that. The man had the money to do anything he wished even if it meant twisting the law around.

Sure, that was corrupt. It was probably the worst decision of his life to work under him, but his wife and children needed to be fed and clothed. Kaiba was one of his VIP clients that he could not afford to lose, especially with the economy going down the toilet and less people being able to afford his services.

When Kaiba was tired hearing the awkward silence, he took a step back and crossed his arms to show that he was not pleased. However, this was somewhat ineffective, considering that the lawyer actually never seen the man smile.

"Why did I hire you if you're going to give me that attitude?" he asked as he stared down the older man. "There are other lawyers that would be glad to do what I need them to be doing."

"Yes, but not all of them have the skill to do what you need to be done," the lawyer pointed out with a sigh. The other didn't have a comeback for that, or temporarily accepted that the other's skill did allow him to be a least a little smart. The CEO might also be plotting right there and then about how to ruin the lawyer financially for his arrogance if he didn't do what he said he could be doing. "Now, I can't put him in jail since he's a minor, before you argue, please think about the situation. This could provide bad for business if you were to bend the law again. If business goes bad, then you'll lose money, and I know you hate to be doing that."

"Get to the point," Kaiba said with a slight eye twitch. "You better not be saying that I let the kid go. If I let him go then some other idiot will try to steal from my company, and I will not tolerate that."

"Well, put me as his defendant and pay me for it," the lawyer said as he stared right at the other without flinching. He enjoyed how the other was almost going red in anger. Normally, the anger wouldn't get that far, but, of course, when it involved money, the other was more than a little pissed off.

"Are you telling me to pay you to defend the one that I want in jail?" Kaiba asked. He was ready to tell the other that he was fired, but the other raised his hand to show that he was not finished.

"No, I'm telling you to pay me to send him to a place worst than jail."

This perked the interest of the CEO.

"Something…worse than jail?" Kaiba said, slowly. He wanted to make sure that he heard the other man say that correctly. "You might not be fired."

"Alright," the lawyer said as he showed the other the file that has been sitting on his desk. "There are records when he was being interrogated that he has memory loss and an extreme shift in personality when certain questions were asked. One moment he'd be crying his eyes out about how he didn't do it and the next he's attacking inanimate objects out of rage."

"So he's moodier than a pregnant woman. What does that have to do with anything?" the other asked as he tossed the papers back into the folder. The lawyer sighed and took out other papers that were copies of a brain scan.

"Well, the concerned officers had him have a brain scan," the lawyer said. "As you see here, there's different brain activity here and here. He has all the symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder."

"And?"

The lawyer sighed deeply and explained further, "I can be his defendant and say that he is insane. It will rule that he is not punished with the original penalties that you're upset for being too little, but be sent to an asylum."

"Ah, then he will be like a prisoner at the Millennium Asylum," Kaiba said as he understood what the other was getting at now. He nodded. "This sounds good, but why should I pay you to defend him?"

"Think of the headliners," the lawyer said with a smile. "Generous Seto Kaiba pays for the lawyer of the poor thief! It would be good for your image. It'll improve your business indirectly."

"I'd hate for you to be against me," Kaiba commented as he revealed the amount of money that he was going to pay the lawyer. "To show my appreciation, you'll take half of your pay now and the rest after the boy is in the custody of the people at the Millennium Asylum."

"Right sir," the other nodded as he took the money. The one thing he liked about Kaiba was that he gave his money in cash, not check. It was another way for him to brag that he had more money than anyone could make in their entire lives, but it made the lawyer's life easier as he didn't need to track his client if the check were to bounce. Plus, he loved the feeling of counting his money.

Kaiba must have rubbed off him…

* * *

A boy with round eyes, that where red from crying his eyes out, sat in front of his reflection as he waited for this lawyer that Kaiba had hired for him. I couldn't help but to feel that this _help_ wasn't really a trick. It was like a treat that turned out to be poisoned. There was no other metaphor that the boy could think of. He just continued to stare at his reflection.

In the reflection, his appearance was different. He still had his white hair that stood out, bright as day in a crowd. It was natural. He knows this, because his family had this trait that appears every so often where they show traits of being albino without being completely albino. For instance, his uncle had white hair, just like him, but he had a tan that many would envy. But the boy still found his reflection interesting.

In the boy's eyes, he saw that his reflection wasn't really his own. The eye shape was different along with the fact that it had very similar eyes to his uncle. The redness stared back at him with a secret that only the boy would know. The lips of his reflection were curled up into a smirk that the boy knew would haunt his dreams that night.

"It's your fault, you know," the boy whispered. His voice was sore and broken from screaming about how he was innocent. He clenched the mirror in his hands and took a quick look around to see if anyone was looking at him. "They either think I'm insane or a criminal."

A voice that could only be heard by the young boy entered his head. The reflection moved its lips as if the voice was coming from the mirror. The boy frowned as he knew that it was coming from his head. He knew that for a long time.

"You are insane," the voice said with a smirk. "And don't worry. I'll get us out of this, Ryou."

It was actually rare that the other would address the boy by his name. He only did it when he was serious. Normally Ryou would be called things like, "Host" or "Landlord". Once in a while he was addressed as "Master" whenever the voice was mocking him. Usually that name would come in whenever Ryou asked him to leave him alone, but of course the other would just do the opposite.

The sound of his name caused Ryou to calm down. He smiled gently, but anyone else other than the people that knew him very well wouldn't notice the small sign of happiness. Unfortunately, the only one that knew him that well would be only Bakura and maybe his uncle.

"Thank you, Bakura," he said to the other in a soft whisper.

"Who are you talking to?" the lawyer asked as he entered the room. "Are you really the boy that I'm supposed to be meeting? You seem relatively normal compared to what I've heard from everyone else."

Ryou's smile faded as he looked at this strange man that took the seat in front of him. He lowered the mirror, but he could still see Bakura. He was making faces at the lawyer and making rude gestures that made Ryou blush. The other looked down to avoid looking at Bakura and to hide his face with his hair.

"You know why I'm here, right?" the other continued, frowning at how he wasn't getting a response. He didn't think that the other deserved the wrath of Seto Kaiba and it was unbelievable that this boy could make away with that much money for so long.

"Because of Kaiba…" Ryou said softly, uncomfortable with talking to the other. He shifted in his seat and looked at the mirror to calm himself down. It wasn't that he enjoyed the sight of Bakura, but he needed it to calm down. He didn't know how it got this way, but he's been like this for a while. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"No," the other said. "I honestly don't, but if I don't do this then Kaiba will put you in jail. I don't think you need that."

"So you are going to put me in the crazy house?"

Ryou looked directly as the other. The stare made the situation reverse as the lawyer was now the one uncomfortable. He tried to look somewhere else to calm himself down, but it made him even more on edge.

"How did you know?" he asked, looking at Ryou.

The other let out a big sigh and looked over at Bakura that was crossing his arms. The other looked at him and switched places with it. The changes were apparent in the mirror, but of course you'd have to crazy to actually know what was going on. The thief looked at the lawyer with crossed arms and a glare. The other looked shocked as this was the sudden shift in personality that he had read in his reports. He, however, thought that the reports are exaggerated, maybe they were not.

"I know people like you," Bakura said with a slight sneer. He glared at the other in disgust. "And I know about the system here. If I'm right, Kaiba wants me in jail and can make it happen with his money. The only way out would be to declare that I am insane. But an asylum could just be another prison for me."

"Y-yes, well," the lawyer said. "It's better than being in jail at that age. You'd be prison food."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I'll enjoy this anymore than I will just because there's a little upside to it," the other growled out. "You think you're doing something good for us, but you're wrong."

"Well, I don't see any other way out and I am a lawyer," the other argued raising his voice. "This is the only option that is open to you other than jail. I suggest you take it."

The other's face softened up and looked down. It was Ryou again and he was sobbing again. He didn't want to go to jail or an asylum. He just wanted to stay with his Uncle and start school like a normal person. He would blame Bakura, but there was no point to enforce the lawyer's belief that he was insane by yelling at his reflection. Out of veil of his bangs that hid his face, he could see that Bakura was shaking his head.

"Crying isn't going to get us out of this," Bakura said.

The lawyer, even though he had now seen why the other was considered insane, pitied Ryou. He looked down and tried to think of something that would make him happy, but there was truly nothing that he could do. If he was Kaiba, he'd just let the kid go, but Kaiba would never do that. He cared more about his money then how he affected other people's lives.

"Look, an asylum isn't all bad," lawyer said, even though he had no idea what actually went on in the asylums other than what he saw in movies. "Maybe you'll meet interesting people."

Ryou looked at the lawyer and frowned. He wanted a normal life. Going to an asylum did not sound normal at all so it did not make him feel any better. Bakura seemed to be ticked off about how the lawyer made these claims.

"Well, have you ever been in an asylum?" Bakura yelled, even though the other could not hear him. "Landlord, don't believe anything he says. He's probably trying to deceive you."

"At the Millennium Asylum," the lawyer continued. "There's a section for teenagers like you. I'll see if I can put you in that section. You'll be around people that are around your age."

"That sounds a little better," Ryou said. His voice was shaking, because he was still afraid, but he managed not to stutter. He knew that Bakura would yell at him if he was any more pathetic than he was now.

"Millennium Asylum?" Bakura asked, raising an eyebrow. "It was probably named that because no one that has been admitted can ever get out."

Ryou sighed at the other. He felt that he was jumping to conclusions, but he could have been right. What was the chance of him getting out once he has been announced crazy? Once they believe you're crazy, even if you act completely normal they will keep you in. Part of a defense system of the mind is to act normal, but usually that is flawed and unstable. They would perform more tests that could last for years, before they could announce that they were fit for society. Probably, the only way that Ryou could get out is to take some medication that they subscribe to him.

"I could try to get you out once Kaiba forgotten all about you," the lawyer suggested. "I don't know how yet, but I'll do my best. But you do seem like you need help."

"I don't," Ryou said softly, but then raised his voice as he continued. "I'm a normal person. A normal kid. I'm supposed to be transferring schools and making new friends. I don't want to go to an asylum!"

"Lower your voice," the lawyer said as he rubbed his forehead. He felt a headache coming on. "This is the only way. I will go now, Mr. Bakura."

Ryou looked away from the other and did not answer him. He looked at the small mirror and held it in front of him. He rubbed his eyes gently and yawned. The other took that as he was too tired to say farewell so he left the room.

"We're not going to get out of this," Ryou said as he grabbed the frame tightly. "Why did you have to rob from the largest CEO in this country?"

"Because it was challenging, and I needed a lot of money fast," Bakura said as he looked at the other with a deadpanned face. "You asked me this before."

"I know…" the other said softly. "You did it to help Uncle out."

"Yes, and I made off with enough to set him off for life," Bakura said with a smirk. "Maybe even set us off for life."

"Wait, you stole from Kaiba multiple times?" Ryou asked with wide eyes.

"Well, stealing is like speeding," Bakura said, thinking about how to explain how they got caught. "If you do it often enough, you're more likely to get caught. Of course, we got caught much later down the road."

"Bakura…" Ryou said as he did hit his head. Ever since Bakura came along, he has been going through some sort of trouble, but he can't even remember his life before Bakura. Right now, it was always so centered on the other. It could be that Bakura was just part of his imagination, but right now he didn't care. The other was there for him when others were not. That's all that mattered.

"Hey, next time. Do you think I should just throw the money out of the window for random street people to enjoy?" Bakura asked. "It would be funny. We can see people fight over the money and Kaiba would be so pissed off."

"After all of this, you're still thinking about what to do next?"

"Of course. It's not like I can't sneak out of the asylum to do something when you're asleep."

Ryou hit his head again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is late. I should have given it to my beta to read earlier.**

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Chapter 02

The trial, which was completely unfair in Bakura's eyes, was over. But of course, no one would believe Bakura if he told them that Kaiba was using his money to do everything he could to damn him into a living hell. The public thought of the CEO as a nice and giving person, because he paid for a lawyer that sent Ryou to be imprisoned into an asylum. Sure, other people would think that going to an asylum would be better than a minor going to jail, but they honestly didn't know anything about the history of asylums. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

"I can't believe you got caught," the tan, tall Egyptian said to his nephew as he walked him to the asylum that he was supposed to detained at. Truthfully, he wasn't supposed to do this, but the court took pity on him and allowed him to spend a weekend with his uncle before being sent to a life of isolation in a hospital for the insane.

"Um, uncle Akefia? Don't you mean, 'I can't believe you did this'?" Ryou asked, looking at the taller man. He frowned at his uncle, who seemed more Bakura the more time that he spend with him.

"Actually, I had gotten used to the idea after the first time you came home with large amount of money without a serious explanation as to where you got it from," Akefia confessed. "I actually thought that you were prostituting yourself to perverted men and women to get the money to pay my debt. I would have been more bothered about that."

Ryou's face heated up, and he looked up at his uncle with an opened mouth. He could not believe that his uncle would say such a thing so bluntly. The other simply laughed at his expression, and patted him on the head fondly.

"I was just pulling your leg," his uncle said, as he went into the building with him. Ryou face heated up to be redder than a tomato, and tried to find something interesting to stare at on the floor. "Don't worry. I'm sure that you'll be able to leave the place soon. You're probably the most ordinary teen I have ever met."

The other stayed silent, as his uncle didn't know about Bakura. Ryou never actually told anyone about it. Who could he tell when he wanted to live a normal life? He didn't want to be looked at as an insane person or anything like that. It was too late for that though. His trial was all over the front page of the Domino City's newspaper and on television, because Kaiba loved rubbing his victory in his victim's face as much as he could until he stopped caring.

Ryou looked down at the necklace that his uncle gave him, while the paperwork was being sorted out. He had touched the reflective surface and saw that Bakura had, once again, replaced Ryou's reflection with an image of himself.

"I told you that he would be okay with our stealing," Bakura said with a smug smile. It was a really irritating smile that clearly showed how happy he was about being right. Ryou only sighed in reply, as he didn't have any privacy to talk to Bakura directly. "You know, not talking to me isn't going to make them think that you're any less insane than they do now."

"I'll talk to you later," Ryou said in his mind, knowing that the other could clearly hear him. The other, however, looked disappointed in how his host chose to play it safe by communicating with him in his mind.

"Don't talk with me like that," Bakura said. "It makes me feel like I'm the one insane."

"Are we not the same person?" Ryou asked with a raised eyebrow.. At times, he didn't understand the other. It sometimes felt that Bakura had a body of his own, but that was silly. It was clear that Bakura was only a figment of his imagination, and that any notion of him being a person was ridiculous.

Bakura didn't reply to that question as he crossed his arms. Ryou smiled at the silence, but he was now being hugged by his very tan uncle. Not knowing what was going on, Ryou hugged Akefia back.

"Now, just call if you need any help getting out," Akefia said in a low voice. "Or if anyone here is treating you badly here. I will get someone to take care of it, even if I have to do so with less…legitimate ways."

"Uncle!" Ryou said, gaping at the older man that was supposedly his role model. "You're just kidding right?"

"Maybe," Akefia said with a wicked smile that matched Bakura's in cockiness. Ryou frowned at first, but smiled and laughed with his uncle. Akefia was the only family he had left. Even though the man was a bit shady at times, Ryou was happy that he could rely on his uncle at a time like this. "Apparently you have to share a room with someone. Will you be okay?"

Ryou nodded and said, "I will. Don't worry about me too much. I can take care of myself."

"And yet the police told me you were crying like a baby," the other said with a smile. Ryou's face heated up, and he covered it up in embarrassment. His uncle laughed at the reaction as he patted the young teen's head before waving good-bye to him.

The other waved back, and followed the nurse to the room that he would be staying in until they deemed him normal enough to be released. He looked around the white room, but there wasn't anyone there other than himself and Bakura, who was looking at him from the mirror that was hanging from the wall.

The mirror was smashed, and a shard was missing from it. It was disturbing to Ryou, but he still didn't see the roommate that his uncle was telling him about, so he thought that the roommate had gone to the bathroom. Ryou looked at the mirror that was all smashed up.

"I don't see anyone, do you, Bakura?" Ryou asked as he looked at the other. Bakura looked around the room from the mirror. He didn't see anything either, but he had this gut feeling that made him feel like something was wrong with the room.

"No, I don't see anyone, but I feel something…sinister in the room. I suggest you be careful, landlord. A body is no use to me if it's all battered and bruised," Bakura said as his eyes narrowed. "Or you could end up worse…dead."

"I hope not," Ryou said as he frowned. He sat on the bed and looked down at the floor. He already didn't like being in this cold, heartless place. The nurse looked at him with pity, and that made him feel uncomfortable. He didn't like others pitying him. It was something he had in common with Bakura.

"Host, something is under the bed," Bakura said.

Ryou rolled his eyes. Bakura was probably trying to make afraid of some nonexistent monster under the bed. It was a poor act from the other, but Ryou decided to look under the bed anyway. He was shocked to see that there was a pair of eyes staring back at him. He screamed and jumped away from the bed.

"Boy, you do have a girly scream," the person under the bed said as he crawled out. He had a similar tan to Ryou's uncle, Akefia. The other also had blond hair and was in a straight jacket. He tried to get up from the floor without the use of his arms, but it was in vain. "A little help here? I tried to get out of this unfashionable straight jacket, but then I rolled under the bed!"

"Well, I'm not going to help you out of the straight jacket," Ryou said as he bent down, finding the other harmless. "But the least I can do is help you onto the bed."

Ryou helped the other, who was much lighter than he thought, onto the bed. The teen looked to be around his age, so Ryou remembered about what the lawyer had told him about Millennium Asylum. Though the blond was upset that Ryou would not help him out of the straight jacket, he was grateful that the other helped his ass find the bed, which was much more comfortable than the floor.

"My name is Marik Ishtar," the teen said with a bow that almost made him fall back over. He simply did the motion because he noticed that Ryou had a British accent, so he wanted to mock the way that people on the television greeted the Queen. He just didn't think that it would be so hard to bow in a straight jacket. "Man, I wish they gave me a more fashionable straight jacket though. Maybe something that would show off my abs or how sexy I am."

"What?" Ryou said, not fully comprehending what his roommate was saying to him. Then noticed that he should probably introduce himself. "My name is Ryou. I can explain why I was talking to myself."

Marik shook his head and smiled at the other.

"It's because you're talking to that British fellow that told you that I was under the bed, right?" the other asked. He tilted his head and looked around the room to look for this 'British fellow' that he mentioned, but could not find a trace of another living person in the room.

"You can hear him?" Ryou asked, shocked by this discovery.

"Hear who?" Marik asked, blinking.

"You just said you heard me talk to another British person in the room," Ryou said, confused. Everything about Marik was confusing him. The boy seemed to be relatively normal compared to what Ryou originally thought that the patients at Millennium Asylum would be.

"Hm? I don't know," Marik said. "I thought I heard something, but it might just be me hearing things. You never really know."

Ryou sighed as this didn't help him at all.

"He is definitely a blond," Bakura said, and saw that Marik started to look offended. The other looked around the room to try to find where that bad blond joke came from, but there were still no sight of anyone in the room besides Ryou and him.

"Why are you in a straight jacket?" Ryou asked as he raised an eyebrow. It was like Marik could hear Bakura, but he noticed that the other couldn't see him. Marik looked at the mirror, but didn't seem surprised at how the reflection was sticking his tongue out at him. When Ryou asked the question, Marik almost missed it, but the other turned to face Ryou and tilted his head yet again.

"Well the nurse told me that I was having a 'psychotic episode'," Marik said. He wanted to make air quotes with his fingers, but obviously he couldn't in this position. "Apparently, I smashed a window with my fist and took a shard and tried to stab Doctor Shadi and started screeching about how he…I don't remember."

"That explains the broken mirror," Ryou said out loud. He looked at the other and sat on the bed. He was somewhat happy that Marik was in a straight jacket as it minimized the possible damage that the other could do to him in this state. "You have no memory of it happening?"

"No. Well, I kind of do," Marik said as he looked down. "I remember feeling like I got sucked into a hole where the only light visible was far away from my reach, and it standing in the middle of my nightmares. I remember trying to stab a hallucination of my father."

Suddenly there was a cry of pain from Marik as the other felt like his head was splitting. He would have grabbed his head if he could, but he was still in a straight jacket no matter how much he tried to get it off with force. He was sobbing for a bit, and Ryou truly felt bad for bringing up the subject, as it was clear how much Marik was in pain.

"Marik?" Ryou said, but then he was greeted by a strange aura of sorts. Marik looked at him with strange eyes. They were the same color and nothing changed physically, but the personality change was clear, as Marik's body suddenly vibrated with laughter, causing him to arch backwards. While Marik was laughing, Ryou backed away from him as much as he could, since he felt an internal instinct saying he should run. Once Ryou's back had reached the wall, Marik got onto his feet with a malicious smile.

"Hello there," the voice that came from Marik had a different tone than from the one that the other was using before. It was more dark and sinister. Bakura took this as a cue to switch with Ryou before something bad happened.

"What do you want?" Bakura growled at the other. He kept a safe distance,and eyed the door in case he needed to make a hasty escape from the other. Bakura's instincts were very well-tuned, as he needed them to be if he wanted to steal money from Seto Kaiba. It was this sense that had helped him to stay alive. It wasn't luck that helped him this far. It was skill.

"I just wanted to do a little maiming," the other said as he chuckled darkly. He struggled with the straight jacket. "Too bad that I'm stuck. I bet I can still make you scream if I bite you."

The other approached Bakura with a grin that would send shivers down even the toughest of people, because it was that crazy smile that sent the animal instinct inside of a human crazy. It gave off a sense of danger. Bakura was ready to dash to the door, but the other only laughed.

"I was kidding, of course," the personality that took over Marik's body said. "You're not Ryou are you? I can tell that you're different from the other roommate that those stupid people tried to put in a room with me."

Bakura looked at the other warily, but the sense of danger was gone momentarily, so he relaxed a bit. It went against what his inner thoughts were saying, but he too wanted to find out who was this person that hid deep inside of Marik, even though he had just met the blond. It was clear that the other wasn't normal, as no one, not even Akefia, was able to hear him speak when he was not in control.

"My name is Bakura," he said as his eyes narrowed. He needed to stay alert. He knew these types were more moody than a pregnant woman without comfort food. "Yours?"

"Why, isn't it Marik?" the other asked with a giant grin.

"Like bloody hell you are," Bakura said as he crossed his arms. He glared at the other. "I wasn't born yesterday. Tell me who you are. Now."

"So demanding," the other said. "My name is Malik. I come out whenever my dear Marik is in pain. I don't plan on having my host body be shattered and broken by this asylum when I still need him. I think you're doing the same thing, switching with Ryou."

"What do you mean?" Bakura asked as he crossed his arms. It was true. He switched with Ryou because he didn't think that the boy would be able to run as fast as he had the potentially to. "Don't compare me to you."

Malik chuckled darkly.

"Believe me," he said. "There is a force more dangerous than you might think of me. I just don't know what it is yet. You must feel it too, right?"

"So what if I do?" Bakura asked. "How can I even trust you? You just said that you wanted to bloody eat me. I'm probably going to sleep with my eyes open now, because of that."

"I didn't say I was going to eat you," Malik said, making a face. "I said I was going to bite you."

"That's pretty much the same thing."

Malik looked at Bakura and laughed. He laughed so hard that he bumped his head on the wall and, rolled around. He fell off the bed as a result. He tried to get up but he couldn't. Bakura saw this and found he laughed at Malik's situation. The other may have been giving off a dangerous aura, but he was pretty much harmless in a straight jacket.

"I like you," Malik said. "I'm sure you can take care of yourself without any help, but can you help me up?"

"Why should I?" Bakura asked, crossing his arms.

"If you do, I won't try to kill…I mean hug you in your sleep," Malik said, rolling so that he could look at Bakura. The boy took this offer, and helped the other onto his feet. Somehow, without Bakura noticing, he seemed to have become somewhat okay with the other's presence. "Okay, I'll let Marik out, but don't tell him about me. He doesn't take it very well."

"…I'm not making any promises," Bakura said with a scowl. It was already bad enough that he had to help the other up when he could have just let Malik roll on the ground all night and enjoy his struggle.

"Make a promise, or I'll call you a humiliating nickname, Bakura," Malik said as his eyes narrowed. "Or worse, I'll decide to stab you once they remove this straight jacket."

"Why would they remove that straight jacket?" Bakura asked.

"Marik can talk off their ear if they don't."

"Oh…"


	3. Chapter 3

**/N: I'm in a rut, but I'm trying to continue with my weekly updates. I hope that all of you enjoy this chapter. This is also my first time writing as Ishizu and I made Yugi love games in general. If you're wondering why he didn't playing a card game in this chapter, there's a reason to the madness.**

* * *

Chapter 03

Marik never enjoyed his dreams. They were old memories that Malik tried to protect him from, but Malik couldn't do anything about the night terrors that Marik had. It was a good thing that Marik would often wake up like nothing happened, but this dream was worse than ever.

The Egyptian opened his eyes wide, becoming a panting mess on the bed. He stared at the ceiling for a while before he noticed that it was morning. The sun poured light into the room, flooding his sight with a stinging pain. He turned around to see that the Ryou was in his bed as well. He didn't even remember going to sleep. He tried to think back to recover his missing memories, but it only made his migraine grow.

He tried to sit up, but he noticed that he was still in the boring, white straight jacket. He rolled back and forth until he fell onto the ground loudly.

Ryou shot up from the bed, looking around. His eyes landed on Marik, and he shook his head gently. He helped Marik up.

"Good morning," Ryou said, not knowing what else to say to the other. Unlike Marik, he remembered last night. It wasn't often that Bakura would shut him out completely. At times, Ryou would wish he did, as it felt strange to not be in control of his own body and mouth. "You feel okay?"

"I don't know what to feel," Marik said as he looked at Ryou. "Did I do anything crazy last night?"

"Define crazy," Ryou said with a nervous chuckle. Marik merely frowned in response, making the other panic slightly as he didn't want to upset the roommate he would be stuck with for an unknown amount of time. "I was kidding. We...just had a talk. That's all..."

That wasn't a total lie. They were talking technically, but it was actually Bakura in Ryou's body talking while Malik did the talking in Marik's body. Ryou didn't really know if that could even be defined as talking, and figured that this kind of weird event could only be found in a crazy house.

"Oh, so I didn't hurt you?" Marik asked, sitting on the bed. "No maiming or stabbing?"

"N-no, nothing like that," the other said with a nervous laugh, leaving out the part where Malik wanted to bite Ryou. The nervous laugh should have made Marik suspicious about the other's behavior, but the tan boy let it go over his head and smiled.

"That's the first time that happened!"

"Really?" Ryou asked, not surprised in the least. Bakura chuckled at the two of them, replacing the reflection of his host yet again. Ryou was starting forget how he actually looked like, since the other would do this very often. Bakura didn't need to actually appear in the mirror all of the time, but he found that it was enjoyable to pretend that he could actually talk to Ryou face to face with the use of a reflective surface.

"It's not really surprising if you consider Malik," Bakura said as he crossed his arms. "The insane maniac did have a point yesterday. I haven't felt this much dark energy since we decided to go to that circus."

"Who's talking?" Marik asked, looking around. "I don't see anyone. Do you hear it too?"

"The voice in your head," Bakura joked, getting used to the idea of someone else hearing him other than Ryou. What made the other's nonexistent heart swell up with happiness was Marik's shocked face. He had to cover his mouth with his hand to stifle the laughter that wanted spill past his lips.

"Marik!" Ryou exclaimed, with a loud voice and a slight glare at Bakura. The other could be completely childish at times. Considering how Bakura didn't really appear to Ryou until a certain age, maybe he was technically a middle school boy right now. That was, of course, assuming that Bakura was really just a figment of Ryou's imagination. Now that Ryou found that Marik can hear Bakura, he is starting to return to his original theory, where Bakura was a restless spirit of some sort that wants revenge on a person who was probably dead already.

"Oh come on," Bakura said, hearing the inner thoughts of Ryou. "That's the most stupid thing I ever heard of. Did you get that idea from a Hollywood movie?"

"Ryou, I think I'm crazy," Marik said quietly so that Bakura couldn't hear him. That wasn't very effective, considering how the other was whispering so loudly that Ryou could have heard him from down the hall. It did have Ryou pity Marik and pat the other's shoulder.

"You're not," Ryou said, even though in his mind he did think of Marik as insane. Anyone that witnessed the appearance of Malik would think that Marik was insane. "What do we do for breakfast around here?"

"Oh, I'll show you!"

* * *

Marik stretched his arms as he finally had some room to move now that one of the therapists had removed the straight jacket. There were three different therapists at the Millennium Asylum that worked with Marik, and Ryou found out that he also had them as well. In Bakura's opinion, they were really bad therapists, considering how long Marik had been stuck in this place. The one that removed the straight jacket was actually someone that Marik knew very well.

"Thank you, Ishizu. This feels much better," Marik said to the therapist. She was the elder sister of Marik. She knew about Marik's past better than anyone else in the entire asylum. She was known for her strange usage of myths to comfort her patients. Unlike her rivals, she believed that the patient came first. It was because of this philosophy that she made it into this world. She only wished that she knew a way to comfort her brother.

"Our session doesn't happen for another few days," Ishizu said, as she tried to look as professional as possible. She still couldn't help but to smile at the other's joy about being able to move his upper limbs around. "But I wanted to warn you about something."

"Oh, not this again," Marik said. "Don't tell me that you think there's something strange going on with Ryou. You said the same thing about the other friend I made in this place. He was perfectly fine. He's a little obsessed with games, but he's normal to my eyes."

"I was right about him. Both of you have around the same number reported times of assaulting," the other stated as she prepared herself for her next session with the next patient.

"I say he was framed. I mean, I don't even remember doing half of the things that you said I did. I just end up in a straight jacket for no particular good reason!"

"But, I predict that this friendship with them will lead you down a darker path."

"You're starting to sound really cheesy," Marik said, crossing his arms. Ishizu's instincts were always dead on. Some would that say it was her womanly instincts, others would think that she actually had supernatural powers. Marik just thought that his sister was almost as insane as people claimed him to be. He didn't believe in predetermined destiny like his sister. It wasn't like he wanted to deny this quality of his sister, but he didn't like the idea of being a puppet for fate to use over and over. He liked the idea of freedom.

Ishizu wanted to tell him that she wasn't being cheesy at all, and warned him to watch his back at the very least, but by the time she opened her mouth the other was already gone. She frowned deeply, as she also wanted to talk with the alter ego of her younger brother that started appearing more and more after the death of their father.

A sigh escaped her lips.

"Mother, I wish you were here now," Ishizu said softly to the family photo she kept on her desk.

* * *

Ryou was talking with the mirror that he had brought in. Truthfully, he wasn't supposed to have one due to Marik's habit of smashing anything that was breakable whenever Malik took charge of his body, but it was better than looking into the many shards of the mirror that belonged to Marik. He wondered why that the mirror was still there.

"How can you feel Malik?" Ryou asked, holding the mirror close. He knew that the other had a knack knowing the presence of another human being, but this was something different. Malik was an alter ego. He shouldn't be much different than Marik was in this theory, and yet Bakura had known when Malik had taken over.

"I don't know," Bakura said as he stared intently into Ryou's eyes. "I just knew. It felt familiar, but I don't know why exactly. It's probably a horrible explanation, but I honestly don't know!"

"Why are you yelling at me?" Ryou asked. He never saw the other so wound up about something like this. Bakura would normally be making a snarky remark or crack a few offensive jokes, but right now Ryou saw that the other was just as confused as he was.

"I don't know," Bakura said, looking away from the other.

"Well, you said that Malik felt familiar?" Ryou asked, not sure if he had heard the other correctly. "Could you explain that to me? I don't understand how he could be familiar if I have never met Marik before in my life."

"I don't know," Bakura repeated, but he tried to explain to Ryou that he truly didn't know, because he felt the other would think that Bakura was lying or avoiding the question. "I don't remember meeting him. It doesn't make any sense."

Ryou stopped his questions there, since he knew that the other was telling the truth, and also because Marik came into the room without his straight jacket. Ryou's instinct was to jump and run to the window that he was prepared to break if he needed to escape. Even though Bakura could tell, Ryou was completely clueless whether Marik or Malik was in control due to the fact that there were no physical change, and Ryou didn't feel like giving the other the chance to stab him with an pointy object.

"What are you doing?" Marik asked as he looked around. "I thought I heard another voice in here. Oh, don't tell me. You were having an intimate conversation with someone and they are hiding under the bed, right?"

Marik took the time to peek under the bed, but there was no one else. Before it could register inside of the tan boy's head that the voice was Bakura's, Ryou grabbed hold of Marik's shoulder.

"H-hey," Ryou said, nervously. "Why don't we go to the cafeteria and get something to eat for lunch?"

"Oh that's a good idea," the other replied, completely forgetting the voice that his roommate was talking to. He took Ryou's hand and led him to the right place. Even though they had both gotten there together, it wasn't long before Marik would get side track and leave Ryou's side.

"Hmph, lookie here," said one of the boys that were so huge that Ryou was convinced that they were pumped with steroids or some kind of chemical. They approached the white haired Brit in a familiar way. Ryou knew right away that they wanted something from him. One of the boys took hold of Ryou's shirt and roughly pulled on it.

This severely pissed Bakura.

No one had the right to touch what was his. Bakura was ready to come out and beat up the others, not caring if Ryou would yell at him after. He didn't even hear what the bully wanted from Ryou. He just knew that he wanted to fight back. But before he knew it, the ugly boys had already ran for their lives from something. They muttered something about a crazy son of a bitch.

Ryou was nervous, and expected someone manly behind him. He thought that the other could either be worse than those boys seemed to be, but when he turned around he saw someone that was actually shorter than him. It was a boy with spiky hair in strange colors, but he had uncommonly huge eyes that Ryou thought could only exist on an anime girl.

"Are you okay?" the other asked, holding onto a video game console. "Did they hurt you?"

"No," Ryou replied, shaking his head slowly.

"I'm getting that strange feeling again," Bakura said. Even though he was glad that he didn't need to get his hands dirty, he couldn't trust an innocent face. Those kinds of faces just spelled out trouble if a person wasn't careful. Ryou would say that Bakura was paranoid, but he couldn't talk to Bakura in front of all these people.

"Oh good! My name is Yugi Muto," said the boy that saved him. He smiled so brightly that Bakura decided that he did not like him.

"My name is Ryou Bakura," Ryou said, smiling gently.

"Are you new here?" Yugi asked. His fingers were actually still pressing the buttons on the portable consol that he was playing on. He just didn't need to look at the screen. "You should come eat lunch with me and Marik."

Wait.

Ryou saw that Marik was waving at him from a table that had no one else sitting there. He had a strange feeling that something wasn't right. Why would the other people avoid that table? He knew of Marik's alter ego, which would make sense, but how come Yugi didn't avoid Marik? Ryou just thought that Yugi was too good for his own good, and left it at that.

There were whispers when Ryou went over to the table to sit with the others. It was actually kind of nice to have so much room.

"So you two are friends?" Ryou asked, not understanding how the two had anything in common. However, when he saw them actually talking like they were best friends, he smiled.

"Well, Yugi here is the only one that matched my record of being in a straight jacket," Marik confessed, smiling. That statement made Ryou nervous. He didn't know what to think. Yugi looked innocent. He didn't look like he could harm a fly. "No one else seems to like us though. I think they are just jealous."

"Jealous of what, exactly?" Yugi asked, putting focus on his game. He muttered about something about beating the final boss and getting his monsters to level 99. Ryou looked over his shoulder, but got dizzy from all the different colors coming from the small screen.

"Of how sexy we are!" Marik exclaimed.

Ryou had doubt that thing was true, but Marik believed it in it with all of his heart. Ryou didn't want to say anything. He had found that he was feeling a little better talking to the two as they were both painfully optimistic compared to Bakura.

"So why are you here?" Yugi asked, looking at Ryou. "What did you do?"

"Um…I don't really know," Ryou lied, since he didn't want to deal with the drama that came with Kaiba's trial. It was lucky that none of the patients seemed to have paid any attention to the newspapers or news on TV. There were some strange stares from the staff members, but Ryou thought that some stares was to be expected, especially with his noticeable hair.

"I don't really know either," Marik said. "I forgot what it was. I was in the hospital, covering in blood after coming home from a party and then boom! Here I am in the asylum."

"They don't seem to think that the Pharaoh exists," Yugi said as he cheered loudly to himself when he had finished defeating the boss. The credits rolled down the screen in a slow fashion. Ryou stared at Yugi.

"By Pharaoh, you mean the type in Egypt?" Ryou asked, tilting his head to the side. He was confused. He wasn't the only one. Marik was still confused, but he just chose to ignore it and not question Yugi. Ryou had found it easier to do that as well, since he didn't need any more drama in his life.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ugh! I'm late with my update yet again. I'm sorry. This chapter did not go through beta phase because I was so late! I have to go straight to homework now. I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 4

"Hey Ryou, you're actually really good at drawing," Marik said as he looked Ryou's shoulder. They were stuck in this group therapy session with a busty therapist that was named Mai Valentine. She insisted that all of her patients addressed her by her first name, but no one was comfortable with doing that other than the ones that were cocky perverts that had their eyes on her breasts.

They were doing a little of art therapy, which Ryou was glad. It didn't have any probing into the past or extreme questions about his behavior. He was just drawing whatever he felt like. It just happened that he was drawing a card of a Duel Monsters, the Change of Hearts.

"Yeah, you're really good," Yugi said, looking over. Mai forced him to put down his games and he decided to draw out a complicated maze. "Did you ever think about making money with your art?"

"W-well," Ryou stuttered out. His face was red from embarrassment. He didn't expect getting positive feedback from the other two since he hadn't drawn anything in years. He looked at the drawing and found that there were plenty of mistakes where he wouldn't have made if he wasn't so rusty. The eyes were soulless as well. It ruined the charm of the picture.

"You could work for Kaiba Corps's game art division!" Yugi suggested, which made Ryou wince.

"I don't think I can. Kaiba doesn't exactly like me," Ryou replied as he looked at his art with a frown. Marik hugged him to cheer him up, but that failed considering that his arms were wrapped around Ryou's neck, making the other choke.

"Come on, what's did you exactly do to make that stuffy CEO hate you?" Marik asked. "You're harmless."

"Marik, I think he can't breathe," Yugi pointed out. He watched as Ryou's face turned slowly to blue.

"Oh, what makes you say that?" Marik asked as he looked down. He freaked out and let go of Ryou's neck before the other got the chance to pass out. "Ryou, I'm sorry. I didn't notice that I was choking you!"

"It's…alright…" Ryou said out weakly. He looked at the time. It was almost time for the group session to be over and the others would have to go thief separate ways until dinner came. Ryou frowned at this as he really enjoyed the time he spent with the two. "I have a session with Dr. Ishtar after this. What about you two?"

"Oh, ugh," Marik said, making a face of disgust. "At least you have my sister. She's probably the best out of the therapists here, other than her weird approach on therapy. I have Pegasus. He's going to go more about his problems than mine."

"Oh?" Yugi asked. "I don't think he's that bad. I have Dr. Shadi today."

"What? But he actually does his job," the Egyptian said, flailing around his arms. "He's the most normal therapist here. No offense Dr. Valentine."

Fortunately for him, Mai wasn't even looking in their general direction. She was over at another table, commenting about the drawings and giving advice to a crazy psychopathic girl.

"I don't like him," Yugi said. "I mean I don't hate him or anything, but he gives the Pharaoh a bad feeling."

"The Pharaoh says that I give him a bad feeling too!" Marik said, waving dismissively at the other. He had enough with these bad feelings from his sister. He didn't need any more of that type of thing from Yugi. "But that's strange that you don't like him. Normally you like everyone, even those guys that used to bully you."

"Isn't that normal though?" Ryou suggested. "You know, to have at least one person you dislike?"

"True," Yugi mumbled. He also had a bad feeling. Normally, he wouldn't get a bad feeling. He never got one from Marik, only when he went into Malik mode. So he felt that his sixth sense was better than the Pharaoh's.

"I think you'll be fine, Yugi," Ryou said, patting the other on the back. Yugi smiled at him as the kind gesture did make him feel better about the next session. He will just keep his guard up, that way nothing bad could ever happen.

"So the brat has a bad feeling about this therapist, Shadi, huh?" Bakura said, becoming interested in the conversation. Ryou tried to dismiss his voice, but it was hard. He settled for rolling his eyes at the other's comment.

"Hey, don't ignore me," Bakura said. "I think you should find out as much about Shadi as possible if he is going to become a future threat."

"He's not going to be a future threat," Ryou mumbled. He soon realize that he had spoken out loud in front of Yugi and Marik, who were staring at him.

"Where is that voice coming from?" Yugi asked, looking around.

"I don't know," Marik complained. "I hear him talk to that voice all the time in our room, but I can't seem to find the stalker."

Ryou paused.

A few things hit him square in the face. One, Marik heard him talk to himself in their room. Two, Yugi could also hear Bakura. And three, Marik thought that Bakura was a stalker of his. The third thing caused Ryou to laugh loudly. He wished it was that simple.

"It's amusing how those two can hear me," Bakura said, smirking, even though the others would not be able to see it. "Maybe I'll talk to them since you're ignoring me."

"How about no," a voice came from Yugi's direction. Ryou looked at Yugi, who didn't seem to notice that booming voice. Marik didn't seem very disturbed about it either.

"Oh it's about time you showed yourself," Bakura said, as if he was talking to an archrival or something like that. Ryou just liked to think of it that way, because it made this scene less messed up than it already was.

"Do you guys hear that?" Ryou asked, nervous. He never heard this type of voice. Well, he did. This type of voice was the type that Bakura had, but he had never heard it in this way.

"That's the Pharaoh," Yugi commented, as if everything was normal. Ryou looked at him with huge eyes. He sat there, with his mouth open. It was an understatement to say he was in shock.

"Alright, clean up," Mai said to everyone. She finally went over to Ryou's table that he shared with Yugi and Marik. She was amazed by the artwork that Ryou made, but her mind were already wrapping around the possible messages that Ryou's subconscious was trying to express through the art. She decided that she would do it later since there was the constant chatter that interrupted her thoughts.

Ryou took this time to leave the room in a hurry. He didn't know what to think or to say. When he was cornered in moments like that he found it better to avoid it until he had calmed down. He didn't want to say something that made him look stupid.

Yugi however found Ryou's escape as a sign that he didn't like the Pharaoh.

"Yami, stop scaring off my friends," Yugi said with a sigh. Mai ignored the fact that Yugi was talking to himself. He was known to be talking to himself in this place, plus he wasn't the only one with that strange habit.

"Well, I didn't know he could hear me," the other said as he seemed to come out of Yugi's chest. He was transparent and looked a lot like Yugi. He sat on the table in front of Yugi and waved his hand in front of Marik's face to check if the other could see him. The other was oblivious to it and had gotten up to go to his session with Dr. Pegasus.

"And I didn't know that there was someone else like you," Yugi said as he cleaned up his things. He wanted to take his time walking with the other.

"Don't compare me to him," the other stated, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, Yami," Yugi said, using the other's name instead of 'Pharaoh'. "He seemed to be like you a lot. He has the booming voice and intangible body."

"I don't think he has gotten that far as to figure out that he could come out of his host like this," Yami said, putting his hand to his face. He was deep in thought. "These are some strange people we met here. They have potential to cause some future problems."

"Yami, I think you're over analyzing the situation," Yugi said. "Ryou is harmless and I doubt his friend is any more dangerous than you."

Yami laughed nervously. He was glad that Yugi didn't know what happened to the bullies that used to beat him up. In Yugi's eyes, Yami couldn't harm a fly, but the truth was Yami definitely killed people before coming here into Millennium Asylum. He was the reason why Yugi wasn't allowed to have any cards. It was amazing what a person could do with a simple thing such as a card.

* * *

"Oh you're here," Ishizu said, not looking up from her book. She flipped to a blank page and wrote Ryou's name at the top. "Please, take a seat."

Ryou looked around nervously, but took a seat in front of Ishizu.

"Are you going to probe me with questions?" Ryou asked. He didn't really know what kind of therapy they were going to be doing. Marik told him that Ishizu used some weird methods when it came to therapy. But considering how Marik considered Mai Valentine's art therapy as normal, Ryou thought that Ishizu would actually ask some questions about him.

"No, of course not," Ishizu said. "I'm not the type to force you to face your past. When the time comes you will be able to face the past on your own."

She took a couple stones from inside of the box.

"Here, please choose one," she said as she displayed the different stones on a cloth in her hand. She didn't seem to want to touch them directly.

"Woo~, stones," Bakura said. He chuckled. "How is this going to help you?"

"She'll explain it later," Ryou told Bakura in his thoughts as he looked at the stones. He really didn't know which one to choose. They were all the same shape, but the colors were different. "You pick a stone, Bakura."

"The green one with flecks of red in it," Bakura said, after a long pause to make up his mind. He decided to go with the one that called out to him the most. Ryou took this one and found the strange green against the red that was a color similar to blood actually soothing.

"The blood stone," Ishizu said as she nodded to herself. She put the other stone in the box and took out a silver chain. She attached it to the stone and made Ryou hold the stone by the chain so that it was dangling. "This is a pendulum, but not just any pendulum. It's your pendulum."

"What? How does this help me?" Ryou asked, frowning.

"Well pendulums are commonly used for finding things," Ishizu said. "But truthfully you can tap into your subconscious with it. It's not witch craft like some ignorant people would think. You hold it and when you ask a question, you subconsciously make the stone move in a certain direction. At least, that is what I believe."

"What a load of bollocks," Bakura said and then the pendulum jerked and moved back and forth. Ishizu stared at the pendulum as she didn't expect such a strong reaction so soon. She shook her head and looked at Ryou.

"I thought it would be a nice, fun activity we could do since this is your first session with me," Ishizu said. "The first thing you should do is ask it to show you yes and no."

Ryou raised his eyebrow, but he listened to Ishizu. Bakura found it strange that the pendulum would move when he was talking and decided to play a little game.

"Yes," Bakura said and the pendulum moved counterclockwise. He smirked and started to fake moan out yes over and over, making Ryou's face turn redder than a tomato. It just so happened that the more that he said yes, the faster the pendulum moved. "This is fun."

"Stop it," Ryou thought to the other. He hoped that Ishizu wasn't looking at his face.

"No, this is too much fun," Bakura said. The pendulum moved clockwise. "Oh? Yes, no, yes, no."

"What are you doing?" Ryou said out loud, annoyed with the other's voice.

"Landlord, look at the stupid stone," the other said. "It's moving according to my voice."

Ryou looked at realized that it did. He also realized that he was talking to Bakura out loud, in front of a therapist. Ryou wanted to slap himself for doing that. He wasn't going to get out of the damn asylum like this.

"Very strange," Ishizu said. "This happened with that boy Yugi. Your subconscious wants to tell you something."

Ryou wanted to laugh, but that would be rude so he stopped himself. Bakura however did not care at all about how rude it was to laugh.

"Yeaahh your subconscious wants to tell you something!" Bakura exclaimed in between his laughter.

"Miss…Ishtar?" Ryou said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't feel comfortable with this."

"Oh, I understand," Ishizu said as she put Ryou's hand down. "Hm? You have a strange..."

She didn't finish the sentence. She looked at Ryou and shook her head. She wrote in the book some details that Ryou couldn't read even though he leaned over to see what she was writing. She wasn't writing in any language than Ryou had knew how to read, so he shrugged and waited for her to send her attention back to him.

"Do you believe in destinies?" she asked.

Ryou raised his eyebrow. Ishizu was definitely weird. If Ryou didn't know any better he would accuse her of being just as crazy as her brother, but he decided to keep that to himself.

"Why do you ask?" Ryou asked.

"I feel like that there is something big is happening here, right under our noses," Ishizu said. She didn't look up from the book. "It's like we have all gathered here for some odd reason."

"That's strange," Ryou said, frowning.

"Well, I don't expect you to understand what I mean," she said as she put the book away. "I know that you won't take my warning seriously, like Marik, but I think that you may be heading down a dark path. I suggest you chose your friends wisely and keep your enemies close."

"This sounds like something from a movie, Miss Ishtar," Ryou said with a nervous laugh, but he stopped his laugh when he realize that she was serious.

"Can you do me a favor?" she asked. "Can you keep Marik out of trouble?"

"I don't think I can," Ryou said, nervously, but he relaxed noticing that she was just worried about her younger brother. "But I'll try my best."

"Thank you, you're a good kid."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: -goes to post this fanfic and go back to playing video games for the next 5 hours-**

* * *

Chapter 5

"Ryou, why do you and Yugi have voice around you that I can hear?" Marik asked as he looked at Ryou from his side of the room. He was hugging his pillow since he couldn't sleep. It was just one of those nights, where even if you close your eyes, you wouldn't be able to get to sleep.

"I don't know," Ryou said honestly. It was really late in the night. Even Bakura was asleep for the most part. It was the only time of the day that he left Ryou alone, so he assumed that the other was sleeping. How that was possible for an alternate personality, Ryou didn't know. "Bakura has been with me since I was young, but no one heard him other than me until now."

"That's what Yugi said too," Marik mumbled. "I don't know. This place is strange, stranger than the other asylums that I've been to."

"The other asylums?"

"Well, you met my sister, right?" Marik asked. "Whenever she has to transfer to a different asylum, she brings me with her, because she doesn't trust the other therapist. She also doesn't trust me alone without her nearby."

"Oh," Ryou said, looking at Marik in pity.

"Don't look at me like that," Marik said, smiling. "Hey, the bright side is that I met you two. Before, at the other asylums, no one wanted to talk to me. It's really weird to be shunned at by the others."

"They just didn't appreciate your sexiness," Ryou joked, using the reason that Marik used earlier. It took a bit to get into Marik's head, but once it did, he laughed.

"What about you? Did you have any friends before coming in here?" Marik asked. "I know that Yugi has a bunch of friends, but can you blame them? He looks like a puppy with those huge eyes. If we were in a story, he would definitely be the protagonist, right?"

"That's a weird thing to say," Ryou said with a smile, because he too did think of this way of Yugi. The little boy did have a big heart in Ryou's opinion. "But if you want to know about my past. I just moved here to Domino City a few weeks ago. I moved with my uncle, because he got a new job offer over here or something. In my old town though, I don't know whether I should say I have a lot of friends or not."

"Well you either do or you don't."

"Well, all of my friends," Ryou said, hugging his knees. "Most of the people would avoid me, because the people around me would land in a coma. So they said that I was weird and tried to bully me."

"Tried?" Marik asked.

"Well…Eventually the bullies started to avoid me as well," Ryou explained. "I wanted to make new friends here that wouldn't get hurt at the high school, but I guess I found a couple here."

Marik laughed.

"Yeah, I am sure I won't be leaving anytime soon," Marik said. "And Yugi doesn't seem to care whether he leaves or not. He gets to get out of here though sometimes though, the sneaky pipsqueak."

"Huh? How?" Ryou asked, looking at Marik. He was craving the idea of going outside, because they were basically trapped here without the chance to experience fresh air other than the windows that were shut tight. Even the roof was closed off because they had experiences of people jumping from the roof.

* * *

"Dr. Mai Valentine?" Yugi called out with an innocent tone. He walked into her office with Marik and Ryou behind him.

"Yes, Yugi?" Mai asked, looking up from her paperwork. She was writing long reports on the computer, which surprised Ryou, because he didn't think that Mai would actually be working with how she treated her group sessions as if they were in elementary school. "Oh, right. Today's the 25th, you have a date today right?"

"Mhm, with Tea," Yugi said. "She said that she wanted to bring two other people and that I should bring two others to make it a group date."

"A group date?" Mai asked, looking at the two. "Really? With these two? Well, I understand Ryou, but Marik? You know he has a terrible reputation here for violence."

"Well, I have one too and you let me go," Yugi pointed out. Mai took a moment to look at Yugi and smiled. She got up and winked at the three.

"Alright, you twisted my arm," she said as grabbed her keys. "But you're responsible for the two of them Yugi. If anything happens, it's your fault."

Yugi nodded.

The four walked out to where a brunette was waiting for them all alone. She looked like she was dressed for a date and everything so it looked the part. She turned to see Mai with Yugi, but she didn't recognize the other two.

"Tea? Why are you all alone?" Mai asked, looking at her. "I thought that it was going to be a group date. That's what Yugi told me."

Tea looked at Mai confused at first, but she looked at Yugi who gave her a signal. She immediately understood and smiled at Mai.

"Oh my friends are waiting for us at a karaoke place," Tea said with a smile. "They didn't want to wait for these guys with me so they went ahead."

"Oh, I see," Mai said, smiling. "Well you three, don't get into trouble. You have to be here by 9 tonight, because that's when I get out and go home, alright?"

The four nodded and walked quickly so they were outside of Mai's sight. Tea looked furiously at Yugi and clenched her hands into fists as if she wanted to hit him.

"Yugi! You didn't tell me about those two," Tea exclaimed. She crossed her arms. "If you told me earlier, I would have gotten someone to wait with me here so she didn't suspect anything."

"So, there's not really going to be a group date?" Marik asked, clueless to what just happened. He was here with Ryou, because Yugi suggested it. Ryou however knew better since he talked to Yugi about it.

"No," Tea said. "Yugi and I are just friends. I get him out every few weeks or so, because he asks me to. I do owe him for that time that he rescued me from that guy that wanted to mug me for money."

"She's also more interested in tall, rich men," Yugi explained with a sheepish smile.

"In New York," Tea added with a smile. "I don't know about you, but Yugi isn't any of those things. So here's the drill, if this is going to be a regular thing. We can't schedule this too often, because of my dance schedule and Mai would get suspicious. But she loves the whole thing so far. She likes that sneaking out to meet a lover kind of thing."

"Can we go off and do whatever we want?" Ryou asked. He wanted to visit his uncle. He worried about him since he didn't really cook and Ryou did all the cleaning when they lived together. "As long as we get back here on time, right?"

"Yeah, you get it," Tea said. "If you need us, we'll probably be at the arcade. Yugi doesn't seem to want to go anywhere else. I have to be with him since Mai does have some friends that spy on us sometimes."

"Well, the arcade is fun," Yugi said, shrugging. "Besides, you love going too, Tea! You're always on that DDR machine."

Tea's face flushed from embarrassment.

"Oh, you guys just go," Tea complained with a sigh.

Ryou nodded and started to head for the direction that his uncle lived.

"This is great," Bakura told Ryou, smirking mentally. "I can go out and steal some more."

"No, you're going to get me in jail," Ryou said out loud. There was no one around so there was no reason to talk with Bakura in his mind. "Besides, we're visiting uncle."

"That's great and all, but what are you going to tell him about the puppy trailing behind you," Bakura asked. Ryou looked behind him to see that Marik was behind him.

"Ah!" Ryou exclaimed out of shock. "What are you doing, Marik?"

"I don't know the place," Marik said. "And I don't want to follow those two around."

"So, it's perfectly fine if you follow me around?" Ryou asked as he looked at Marik. He shook his head when he remembered the story that Marik told him about how he had transferred to different asylums, so that really meant that he travelled to other cities and not even spent one day outside by himself. "Whatever, let's go to my uncle's place, okay?"

Marik nodded and walked right next to Ryou. For a couple of blocks, there was an uncomfortable silence between the two that happen when they were in the asylum.

"So, what's your uncle like?" Marik asked, wanting to break the silence.

"Oh, he's a little strange," Ryou explained. "He has white hair and red eyes, but he has a really dark tan. He doesn't even have any tan lines. He also is really laid back."

"That's really strange," Marik said with a laugh.

"Not that you can really talk," Bakura said, getting comfortable with the idea of talking with Marik. "You have blond hair with a tan."

"Hey, both are completely natural," Marik said, touching his hair with his hand. "Look! My hair is silky smooth, no damage to it. I didn't bleach it or anything."

"So are you two going to stand there and talk about hair or come in?" a voice asked. It was similar to Bakura, but it came from Akefia, Ryou's uncle. He had opened the door and standing in the entrance with his arms crossed.

"Woah, that's your uncle?" Marik asked, staring at the other person. "He doesn't look like an old person."

"Marik, just because he's my uncle doesn't make him old," Ryou said with a sigh, hoping that Akefia didn't think of Marik negatively, but all worries about that went away when Akefia laughed. The two walked into the house that was slightly a mess.

There were cups of noodles on the living room table, but other than that the house looked the same as Ryou left it. But that didn't really make him feel better. Ryou picked up the cup noodles and put them in the trash.

"You need to put your things in the trash," Ryou nagged. "And you can't be just eating cup noodles all of the time. If you want I'll cook some meat dishes tonight since I can stay here until late."

"Only until late?" Akefia asked. "I thought you were released from the asylum."

"Not yet," Ryou said. "They don't seem to want to let me leave so soon and this therapist seems to enjoy the thought of me being in there. She was going on about destinies and fate."

"Let me guess, my sister?" Marik asked. "She's always going on about that sort of thing."

Akefia frowned, but he smiled. He was happy that had made a friend, even if it was with a weird person from an asylum. He was really worried about Ryou since he didn't really allow himself to get near people since that coma incident and that car accident.

"Sounds like that you met a lot of interesting people there," Akefia said as he sat down on the couch. "I knew that coming back to Domino City was a good idea."

"Wait, back?" Ryou asked. "What do you mean back?"

"Well, before you came into my custody, this house belonged to your father and mother," Akefia explained with a sad expression. "You were probably too young to remember."

"I remembered, host," Bakura said. "You lived here with your parents and your little sister, Amane."

Ryou touched his forehead as he felt like there was a headache coming on. He didn't want to think about the past at a time like this, but now he was getting these flashes of memories. There was no sound and the pictures where always censoring an important thing. It was like someone had taken a whole bunch of old pictures and ripped off a person's face from the picture.

"Ryou, are you alright?" Marik asked, looking at Ryou. He could feel the pain that Ryou was going through. He had gone through it several times when he was in Millennium Asylum. It was the pain of trying to remember something that was meant to stay buried.

"I'm fine," Ryou said, wincing at the pain.

"You look like you have a migraine," Akefia said as he went into the bathroom to get some aspirin. "I told you, you shouldn't be drinking so much."

Ryou laughed gently. He didn't drink, but Akefia would often accuse him of drinking. Maybe Bakura drank when Ryou wasn't awake.

"Host," Bakura said. He wanted to touch Ryou. He didn't know why, but he was getting the urge to touch his host and to tell him that he didn't have to remember anything, but that was wrong. It was wrong to ditch memories just because they were painful. But he wanted to do something for the other. It wasn't like Bakura, but when you spend years with someone like this, you become attached.

"It's fine," Ryou said softly. "I'm fine."

It was more like words of comfort for himself than Bakura.

Marik pat Ryou's back.

"Look, I'm here for you," Marik said with a smile. "And…that voice…Bakura was it? He's there for you as well, so don't think that you have to suffer on your own."

Ryou wanted to smile at Marik, but he felt a darkness filling his vision. He was going to pass out, but Bakura immediately took over before the other had a chance to fall. Marik was shocked.

"What happened?" he asked.

"My host passed out," Bakura said with a grumble. "He's a lot like you, more so than you think. Now get Malik out. I know he's in there."

Marik looked at Bakura with a puzzled face, but luckily Akefia walked back into the room with some medicine for Ryou's body.

"Here you go," Akefia said as he put two pills in Bakura's hand. The other swallowed the pills since the headache wouldn't subside without it.


End file.
